


Gallopin' Gorgons, Charred Eyebrows and Some Kisses, Too

by Waywardwiz



Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-09
Updated: 2016-12-09
Packaged: 2018-09-07 11:08:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,416
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8798533
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Waywardwiz/pseuds/Waywardwiz
Summary: Or: Four times Newt and Jacob almost kissed, and the one time they did."The first time Newt tried to kiss Jacob he ended up having to use his wand to heal a bloody nose while Jacob stood next to him apologizing profusely".





	

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Русский available: [Гадкие горгульи, обугленные брови и немного поцелуев](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13485591) by [esplodio](https://archiveofourown.org/users/esplodio/pseuds/esplodio)



**Gallopin' Gorgons, Charred Eyebrows and Some Kisses, Too**  


The first time Newt tried to kiss Jacob he ended up having to use his wand to heal a bloody nose while Jacob stood next to him apologizing profusely. Newt had just surprised him, was all, he insisted. It had nothing to do with the kissing aspect, of course it didn’t, and he would love to be kissed. He didn’t initiate anything, though, and Newt was all too perplexed to give it another try. Instead he sent Jacob an awkward smile and muttered something about checking in on the murtlap. Jacob declined his offer to join him as he for obvious reasons had grown rather wary of the marine beast and its’ multitude of tentacles. The rest of the day was spent in quiet half-tension until Jacob found the young wizard and apprehensively, eyes down-cast, explained to Newt that he had experienced a great amount of psychological distress during the war and had developed a tendency to be anxious of unexpected movements other people made.

He called it ‘War Strain’ or ‘Shell shock’, words Newt hadn’t heard before, and said that he had been diagnosed based on some emotional symptoms he had shown, such as mood swings, terrifying hallucinations and disorientation. Newt, having not quite known what to do with this information but sensing that Jacob had shared an important, if uncomfortable, part of himself, did the only thing he could think of and carefully embraced his friend. His hold on him was soft and light, leaving Jacob plenty of room to free himself if he so wished. He didn’t move, though, and with his forehead nestled tightly in the crock between Newt’s shoulder and neck he breathed in deeply and closed his eyes. That was enough for now, Newt decided and smiled into Jacob’s dark hair.

\---------------------------

The first time Jacob tried to kiss Newt, the two men found themselves in a particularly ridiculous situation. Newt had decided that it would be a great learning experience for Jacob to help him exercise the fire crabs, which had resulted in a thoroughly indignant crab and a baffled and suddenly eyebrow-less magizoologist. The creature shuffled off into its’ cave and Jacob, who found the entire thing rather hysterical, placed a hand on each side of Newt’s face, tilting it this way and that to make sure that only Newt’s poor eyebrows had taken real damage from the fire. He was so busy inspecting the long lines of the wizard’s nose and cheekbones that he didn’t realize that his action might have come off as a bit too intimate until Newt made a gentle coughing sound. Their eyes met and Jacob’s mouth suddenly felt very dry as he thought about what it would feel like to kiss those thin lips. Just as he had gathered his courage to do just so, Newt took a few shorts step back, putting a more respectable distance between them.

Jacob flushed scarlet and tried to stammer an excuse, while Newt restored his facial hair and firmly scolded the crab which had poked its’ head out through the mouth of its’ home and was now regarding them with black eyes, the sapphire-fitted shells on its’ back flashing ocean blue in the magic light coming from the transfigured roof of the suitcase. After delivering a few choice swearwords that to Jacob’s ears sounded like gibberish (“gallopin’ gorgons”, "Merlin's saggy left...”, “you stinky little dungbrain” among others), Newt picked up a battered pail filled with slimy red lumps that looked suspiciously like entrails and announced that they should go feed the something-or-other (Jacob was still learning to wrap his tongue around the beasts’ foreign names). Anxious that he might have managed to offend Newt somehow – but Newt had tried to kiss him first, hadn’t he? – Jacob snuck a quick peak at Newt’s face as they walked, only to see a tiny, tender smile tugging at the corners of his friend’s mouth and a light in his eyes that Jacob longed to see directed at him rather than the ground. But one step at a time, he though. They had plenty of time after all.

\---------------------------

The second time Newt tried to kiss Jacob was just after the latter had a hippogriff bow to him for the first time. The name of the hippogriff was Talon and she had only lived in the suitcase for a few short weeks when Newt managed to convince the somewhat nervous Jacob to approach her. Jacob had been shaking all over when he neared Talon, eyeing the large hippogriff’s claws uneasily, and when he bowed he did it so deep that his nose almost touched his knees.  
“Stand up” Newt had ordered levelly, “and make sure to look her in the eyes at all times. You can’t blink”. Jacob straightened his back slowly and found Talon’s gaze, maintaining eye contact with the magnificent creature in front of him. A few long seconds passed by, dragging unbearably, and Jacob was just about to run away screaming bloody murder (Newt had nonchalantly informed him that hippogriffs may attack should they feel insulted) when Talon made a slight whinnying sound and lowered her head. Jacob stared at her in flabbergasted wonder, heart soaring in his chest, until Newt interrupted his reverie, “and now you may touch her. Carefully”

Jacob reached out and gingerly stroked his fingers across the silky feathers of the hippogriff’s neck. Nothing happened the first time and neither the second or third, and soon he was brave enough to talk to her as well, praising her in a reverent whisper, “you’re such a wonderful creature, you know that? I’ve never seen anything like you”  
Talon cooed softly at him and gently pushed at his shoulder with her head, and he laughed in delight at the hippogriff’s fast show of affection. He looked at Newt and was surprised to see an almost wounded expression, all raw emotion, on the other man’s face, and he asked, worried and curious at the same time, “are you alright?”  
The dazedness in Newt’s eyes cleared away like a fog hit with rays of sunshine and Jacob only had a moment to wonder at how brilliantly blue Newt’s eyes were before the wizard made for him, said eyes bright with promise. Jacob prepared himself for what was going to happen, raising his arms to catch Newt when he got close enough. That was when Talon, bless her, mistakenly thought that her new friend was being assaulted and protectively jumped in front of him while blotting her large teeth at Newt. He wisely backed off, slumped forward and hands raised in surrender, as always a hundred percent attuned to the moods of his creatures. They soon managed to calm the hippogriff down and explain to her that Newt’s intention had been in no way sinister but after that the mood just didn’t seem right for kissing. Perhaps some other time, Jacob mused.

\---------------------------

The second time Jacob tried to kiss Newt was when the wizard was, for once, completely still. Seeing a reclined, relaxed Newt was always a strange, almost miraculous thing, as the magizoologist was usually a ball of wild, hectic energy, jumping from one project to the next with the speed of a niffler on the hunt for gold. But now he was perfectly tranquil, lying next to Jacob with closed eyes and his ginger rustling gently in a light summer’s breeze. They were lazing about on a hill in the unicorns’ sanctuary, enjoying their short respite from their work with feeding the creatures inside Newt’s suitcase. Newt was sprawled on his back while Jacob himself was on his side angled towards his friend. He was listening intently to Newt’s animated talk about Bertha, the female unicorn, his eyes shining with adoration. The wind whistled around them, grass tickled Jacob’s cheeks, Newt’s smile was as radiant as any star in the night sky and Jacob felt so, so happy, he could barely contain it.  
“This is perfect” he said, and Newt nodded.

“It is” he agreed, and Jacob raised himself up on his elbows, hovering over Newt before he had even thought what he was about to do all the way through. Newt regarded him curiously, perhaps even a bit hopeful, his face open and utterly unguarded, and the baker found himself starting to lean down. Then there was a blur of deep blue and fiery red and Newt was on his feet, brushing grass stains off his knees, looking at something in the distance. Disappointment settled deep in the pit of Jacob’s stomach, and for a few horrifying seconds he was certain that he must have misunderstood the nature of their relationship. But then Newt sniffed the air like a lunatic and exclaimed elatedly, “Jacob, come on, Bertha is about to foal! Up we go, no more dilly-dallying!”   
And he grabbed Jacob’s hands and pulled him up next to him with strength acquired from years of hard manual labor. Jacob’s hard skipped a beat – it felt more like five or six, really, he certainly required some kind of medical attention – when Newt interlaced their fingers, making sure that they were properly holding hands, and hurried down the hill towards Bertha, hauling Jacob, who was smiling so wide that his face hurt, with him.

\---------------------------

When they kissed for the first time _Kowalski Quality Baked Goods_  was just about to open on its’ first day in business. The sun was still just a thin line of glowing yellow dibbing above the rooftops but Jacob was already up and about, dizzy with a perfect mixture of excitement and nerves, moving around his small kitchen with purpose as he took rows and rows of breads and buns and sweet cakes from the oven and transferred them into baskets adorned with colourful tea-towels. His cheeks were red and the big smile seemed permanently stuck to his face as the fact that he was finally, _finally_ doing what he truly loved downed upon him little by little. He was going to make people so happy, he just knew it, assured in his own abilities to create something great, something delicious and hearty and delightful. He was busy making shapes of frosting on a occamy-shaped cookie, biting his lip in concentration, when Newt, who had been sitting on the counter, pleasantly informed him, “you have flour on your nose”, before rubbing it off with the tip of his finger.  
Jacob looked up briefly and laughed, a little breathless with exhilaration, “well you know, omelettes, eggs. Here, would you mind putting this in the window display?”

He handed Newt a basket with fresh loaves of banana bread, and Newt, not knowing what to do with the wand he had been twisting between his fingers, simply stuck it in his mouth so that he could hold onto the basket with both hands. As their hands touched Jacob looked up and froze solid at the sight of Newt with his lips locked tight around the wand and a look of absolute concentration on his face as he tried to balance the weight so that he wouldn’t spill any of the food. It only took a few steps, then he had the bread placed by the window and his wand fixed securely into an inner pocket in his jacket, but even that short moment of seeing Newt with a wand in his mouth had done something to Jacob, something odd and lovely. He didn’t know what it said about him that he found Newt with objects in his mouth and that focused look in his eyes absurdly attractive but he did and all of a sudden he couldn’t wait anymore.

“Jacob, I was thinking, should we put the rolls on the counter instead of by the wall so that – “  
“Newt” Jacob interrupted him, striding around the table, his steps quick with purpose, and his voice conveying great urgency as he asked “can I kiss you, please?”  
Newt stared at him, eyes wide and astonished, and then his mouth curved into a huge smile that caused something to tether itself inside Jacob, made him feel calm and warm and wonderful, and when Newt softly said, “yes”, he didn’t waste a second more.

He couldn’t remember ever having had a better kiss. Newt’s lips were soft and pliant beneath his, and his hands were in Jacob’s hair, tugging and teasing, while Jacob dug his hands into Newt’s coat, pulling him tight against him so that they were pressed together mouths and chests and legs. When Newt ground his hips forward Jacob’s knees buckled just the tiniest bit and he moaned into Newt’s mouth, winding his arm around the slight wizard’s lower back and parting his lips to let Newt’s tongue explore his mouth. Newt kissed with all he had, like a drowning man, like Jacob was water and life and sunshine, and Jacob had a hard time keeping up with his eager hands and lips and words that were sweeter than honey and hotter than sin and all promises. Feeling his pants growing a bit too tight for a public place, Jacob carefully let go of Newt and stepped back. Newt’s eyes were blown with all sorts of needs and emotions, and Jacob couldn’t imagine that he looked much different.  
“Wow” he breathed, and then smiled, “I….” Realizing that he had no idea what to say, Jacob closed his mouth and just looked at Newt, whose high cheekbones were tinted a lovely shade of red.

“Again?” Newt asked with that smile, that brilliant, magic wizard-smile and gave Jacob’s chest a light push, guiding him backwards behind the counter. Jacob laughed and let himself be kissed a few more time, holding Newt’s hand tightly, and enjoyed the sensation of being cared for so deeply by another being. Finally, regretfully, he disengaged himself and said, “I should open the shop. But later, right?”  
Newt nodded quickly with so much fervour that it looked like his head might pop right of his shoulders.  
“When we have checked on Bertha’s foal and fed them” Jacob added quickly, knowing that nothing, not even kissing, came before the creatures’ well-being where Newt was concerned.  
Newt pecked him on the cheek affectionately, before letting go. He walked to the front of the store and flipped the sign so that the word “Open” was turned outwards.  
He then smiled, bright as sunshine and magic and fairytales and said, “I’d like that”.  
Jacob would, too. Fifth time’s the charm, it seemed.


End file.
